Valladolid

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About Valladolid

Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain based in Valladolid, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, from where the nickname Pucela is derived.

Founded on 20 June 1928, the club plays in Segunda División, holding home games at Estadio Nuevo José Zorrilla, which seats 26,512 spectators. It currently ranks 13th on the La Liga All-time La Liga table.

History

Early history

Founded from the amalgamation of Real Unión Deportiva de Valladolid and Club Deportivo Español (eventually Real Unión), Valladolid first reached the La Liga in the 1947–48 season, as champions of Segunda División. In the following year, the team pushed on from this success and reached the finals of the Copa del Rey in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu against Athletic Bilbao, eventually losing 4–1.

The next ten years were spent in the first division, but relegation was short-lived and Valladolid gained promotion in 1958–59 with a 5–0 win over Terrassa FC under manager José Luis Saso, a legendary figure in the history of the team. He had originally been a goalkeeper for the club, and subsequently went on to perform many roles, ending up as president of the team.

Valladolid vacillated between the first and second divisions in the subsequent years, descending as low as Segunda División B in 1970–71. Promoted in 1992–93 Segunda División, the team was again sent down after the 2003–04 La Liga. In 1984, Valladolid also won the Copa de la Liga (a competition only played in the early 80s), over Atlético Madrid.

The side's highest position during this 11-year stint was seventh in 1996–97 La Liga, being coached in the previous seasons by former Real Madrid Castilla's coach Rafael Benítez, as various players from there also would later appear for Valladolid.

The 2006–07 record-breaking season

In the 2006–07 Segunda División, after signing Basque Country (autonomous community) José Luis Mendilibar as coach, Valladolid performed one of their best years in history while playing in the second level. The side took the lead in the 15th game and went on to finish with a competition all-time high 88 points, winning the championship by a total margin of eight points, and holding an advantage of 26 points over the non-promotion zone (fourth and worse), both being all-time records in the league. They also achieved the honour of staying unbeaten 29 games in a row, from 10 October 2006 to 6 May 2007, being mathematically promoted after a 2–0 away win against CD Tenerife on 22 April 2007 (just the 34th day of the season), the earliest any club has achieved promotion in Spanish history.

Also remarkable was the side's role in 2006–07 Copa del Rey's Copa del Rey, reaching as far as the quarter-finals after beating two top division teams, Gimnàstic de Tarragona (4–1 aggregate) and the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League contender Villarreal CF (3–1), while playing the whole competition with the reserve players.

Two relatively successful seasons in the top division followed, finishing in 15th place while avoiding relegation after a 1–1 draw on the last day of both seasons (against Recreativo de Huelva in 2007–08 La Liga and Real Betis in 2008–09 La Liga).

End of the Mendilibar era

After a slow start to 2009–10 La Liga (three wins in the first 20 games), Mendilibar was sacked on 1 February 2010, following a draw at home against UD Almería. The week following his sacking, Valladolid dropped for the first time to the relegation zone (something that never happened during his 138-game stint), with former player Onésimo Sánchez now in charge.

After only one win in 10 games, Sánchez too was fired, with former Spain national football team manager Javier Clemente replacing him, in a desperate move to avoid relegation with only eight games remaining. After a brief breather (16th position), Valladolid again returned to the last three, then faced a must-win last game at the Camp Nou, against a FC Barcelona squad that needed a win to secure the title. Tied in the standings with Racing de Santander, Málaga CF and CD Tenerife for the two final safe positions, Valladolid lost 0–4, and consequently dropped down a level, after a three-year stay in the topflight.

Season to season

The following list shows Valladolid's record as well as all the presidents and coaches for every season since its foundation in 1929. All presidents and coaches are Spanish unless otherwise noted.